


as once I wept (if I could weep)

by theriveroflight



Series: my mind turns your life into folklore (tumblr prompts) [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Ficlet, Future Fic, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Guardian Adrien Agreste, Ladrien | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Memory Loss, Not Beta Read, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, no identity reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29868426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight
Summary: I will not ask where thou liest low,Nor gaze upon the spot;There flowers or weeds at will may grow,So I behold them not:It is enough for me to proveThat what I [loved], and long must love,Like common earth can rot;To me there needs no stone to tell,[It] is Nothing that I [loved] so well.- "And Thou art Dead, as Young and Fair", Lord Byron
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: my mind turns your life into folklore (tumblr prompts) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076309
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: Tumblr 500 Celebration





	as once I wept (if I could weep)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from poem credited in summary.
> 
> Written for the [Miraculous Fanworks Tumblr 500 followers celebration](https://miraculousfanworks.tumblr.com/post/644403113882779648/weve-reached-500-followers-thank-you-so-much-to).
> 
> Prompt: ladrien + 12 (grief)
> 
> There isn't anything inherently romantic about this, so I tagged it platonically, but it can be interpreted as whatever you would like.

The statue towers over him. They built one at the base of the Eiffel Tower, away from the one where both of them were together, back when they first started.

He’s standing too close to really see her face, immortalized in bronze that’ll probably turn green if they don’t maintain it well.

He kneels to lay the flowers at the statue’s foot, and takes a few steps back.

It doesn’t look like her. They didn’t do a good job capturing her; the statue is still, and Ladybug was always a blur of motion.

The statue just stands, and looks towards the city. A protector, a Guardian…

And in the end, she left that burden with him.

Heavy is the box, full of magic and miracles.

Heavy are the feelings he still possesses for her.

In the weeks since she passed the burden to him in battle, Ladybug hasn’t said anything. Tikki was the one who brought him the earrings and told him that he was in charge now.

And he wants her back, more than anything.

Some people cast a couple looks at him, probably wondering exactly what Adrien Agreste would be staring up at Ladybug for, looking mournful.

He sighs. He misses her so much. And she’s so tantalizingly close, she’s  _ not  _ dead. She’s good-as to the people of Paris, sacrificing every part of her that was connected to the Miraculous for them. They commemorate her.

Adrien wonders what the woman that was once Ladybug is doing now. How she’s coping with the loss of memory. Perhaps she’s still looking for something, something missing that she’ll never be able to truly connect.

Not without someone shattering that boundary and finding her.

Adrien doesn’t even know where to begin.

Hawk Moth…it’s a good thing his father is good as gone, too. Trapped in a pocket dimension produced by the Pig Miraculous. Rose was mad, at first, but they both believe in the idea of redemption, and he knows deep down that Rose is kinder than she wants to be.

Adrien can still spare some sympathy, can still understand  _ some  _ of it. Certainly not all, but Adrien is willing to provide a chance if his father is willing to take it. He doubts that Father  _ will,  _ but Adrien will always reach out.

He notices suddenly when the breeze picks up that parts of his face are colder.

Tears.

It’s time for him to leave her.

“Goodbye, Ladybug,” he whispers. “Wherever you are.”


End file.
